CROQUET NEWS:  World Championship Won by Chris Clarke

2-10 February 2008
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
by Leo Nikora

Chris Clarke [#2] of England won his second World Championship by beating Stephen Mulliner [#7] of England. See also past records.

	Place Player Flag Rank (1/29/08)
	1st	Chris Clarke #2
	2nd	Stephen Mulliner #7
	3rd	Robert Fulford #3
		Aaron Westerby #12
	5th	David Maugham #4
		Keith Aiton #6
		James Death #10
		Shane Davis #49
	9th	Rutger Beijderwellen #5
		Paddy Chapman #9
		Ian Dumergue #13
		Ian Lines #19
		Samir Patel #22
		Paul Skinley #23
		Bob Jackson #32
		Michael Wright #36
	17th	Reg Bamford #1
		Peter Landrebe #8
		Bruce Fleming #11
		Greg Bryant #15
		Jonathan Kirby #18
		John Gibbons =19
		Ian Burridge #24
		Jenny Clarke #25
		Leo McBride #27
		Marcus Evans #39
		Robert Lowe #40
		Andrew Johnston #42
		David Openshaw #47
		AJ Reid #54
		Toby Garrison #57
		Philip Drew #98
	33rd	Jerry Stark #16
		Brian Cumming #20
		Stephen Forster #21
		Joe Hogan =28
		Chris Patmore #31
		Colin Irwin #46
		Stewart Jackson #48
		Paul Bennett #50
		Ron Lloyd #51
		Brian Wislang #53
		Doug Grimsley #58
		Mark Prater #59
		Rod Kirk #63
		Kevin Beard #64
		John Prince #67
		John Hardy #71
		Ken Bald #72
		Jeff Newcombe #73
		David Bent #74
		Steve Jones #76
		Jack Wicks #80
		Neil Bonnar #84
		Tim Murphy #86
		John Versey =87
		Ailsa Lines #90
		Robin Brown #91
		Dennis Bulloch #92
		Chris Williams #93
		Peter Parkinson =94
		Simon Watkins #101
		Tony Hall #107
		Trevor Bassett #112
		Liz Fleming #118
		Margaret Melville #136
		Jerry Guest #142
		Nelson Morrow #149
		Jim Bast #173
		Richard Griffiths #221
		Duncan Dixon #225
		Evan Newell #244
		Juan Ojeda #321
		Vincent Commarieu #363
		Masaaki Yamada =368
		Kevin Wells #404
		Bruno Hess #405
		Anton Varnas =577
		Danny Davids #631
		David Hajn #728

Eighty players are competing in the World Croquet Federation's (WCF) World Championship, including 23 of the top 25 players in the world. The championship was held on 21 lawns at six croquet clubs in Christchurch, New Zealand: United Croquet Club, Fendalton, St. Martins, Elmwood, St. James, Cashmere.

The World Championship started with Block play, in 8 Blocks each of 10 players. The top four players in each Block advance to Knockout play.

The winner will be presented with the Wimbledon Cup. This was presented to the World Croquet Federation by the All England Lawn Tennis Club in recognition of the part croquet played in the club's long history.

The tournament director was Charles Jones. The tournament manager was Dr. Kevin Fellows. The tournament referee was Dr. Graeme Roberts.

The Championship was played in accordance with the Laws of Association Croquet, 6th Edition, under Law 36 for Advanced play. Dawson 2000 balls were used.

Knockout Play

Four players from each Block qualified for the Knockout.

The draw for positions in the Knockout was held at the evening function on the fourth day (5 February), following the WCF’s defined procedures, and used the World Rankings after Block play. Play in the Knockout started on the fifth day (6 February), and generally proceed at one round per day. The final will be held on the eighth day (10 February).

The Knockout was single-life, starting with best-of-3 matches, and progressing to best-of-5 in later rounds. The stage when best-of-5 starts, and whether any time limits are used, was decided depending on the playing conditions. If time limits were used, they were 4-7-9 hours for best of 3, and 4-6-8-9-10 hours for best of 5.

Seed Player Flag Rank (2/5/2008)
1st	Reg Bamford #1	Davis 26-18 4-26 26tp-9	Davis 19-26 26-13 26-5	Mulliner 26tp-12 26tp-6 26-10	Mulliner 26-16 26-19 26-9	Clarke 9-26tp 26tp-0 26-17 26-14
	Shane Davis #39
	Ian Lines #20	Lines 26-20 20-19
13th	Greg Bryant #13
9th	Peter Landrebe #9	Wright 0-26tp 26-23 26-11	Mulliner 26-0 22-26 26-20
	Michael Wright #24
	Robert Lowe #41	Mulliner 18-26 26-22 26-18
8th	Stephen Mulliner #8
5th	David Maugham #5	Maugham 1-26 26tp-1 26-9	Maugham 26tp-22 26tp-1	Westerby 12-26 26-21 26-12 26poo-22
	David Openshaw #32
	Leo McBride #25	Chapman 26tp-16 10-26 26-21
10th	Paddy Chapman #10
14th	Aaron Westerby #14	Westerby 26-8 26-4	Westerby 1-26 26tp-9 26-13
	Ian Burridge #29
	Philip Drew #88	Beijderwellen 26stp-11 26tp-8
4th	Rutger Beijderwellen #4
3rd	Robert Fulford #3	Fulford 26tp-0 26tp-0	Fulford 26-0 26-9	Fulford 26tp-8 26-9 26-1	Clarke 0-26tp 0-26tp 26tpo-15 26-9 26-0
	AJ Reid #42
	Paul Skinley #19	Skinley 23-26 26-18 11-8
16th	John Gibbons #16
12th	Ian Dumergue #12	Dumergue 26-21 10-26 23-22	Aiton 26-0 26-10
	Jenny Clarke #26
	Toby Garrison #45	Aiton 12-26 26-4 26-15
6th	Keith Aiton #6
7th	James Death #7	Death 26-10 26-4	Death 26-7 26tp-22	Clarke 26-9 26-15 26-18
	Marcus Evans #40
	Samir Patel #22	Patel 26-9 26-10
11th	Bruce Fleming #11
15th	Jonathan Kirby #15	Jackson 26-15 26-14	Clarke 26-7 26-22
	Bob Jackson #27
	Andrew Johnston #46	Clarke 26-3 26-2
2nd	Chris Clarke #2

Block Play

Players were drawn into the Blocks following the WCF’s prescribed procedures, which aim to produce Blocks of equal strength, and also to spread the players from each country as evenly as possible across the Blocks.

Block play occupied the first three days (2-4 February), and each player had three games each day, with three hour time limits.

The Blocks are Section Play, that is, positions in the Block are determined by wins, and points are not used in determining the Block placings. If there are not four clear qualifiers from a Block, there will be further play-off games to determine the four qualifiers. The fourth day (5 February) was reserved for these play-offs.

Block A	RB	JK	IL	AR	BW	DG	JN	RB	LF	DH
Reg Bamford #1	2nd			26qp-4	26tp-2	26tp-0	26tp-0	26sxp-0	26-2	26tp-13
Jonathan Kirby #18	26tp-24	1st	26tp-0		26-6	26-22	26-22	26-0	22-14	26-7
Ian Lines #19	26-0		2nd	26-5	26-0	26-4		26-1	26-2	26-13
AJ Reid #54				4th*	26tp-0	26tp-1		26-13	26qp-3	23-17
Brian Wislang #53					7th	20-19		26tp-24		26tp-3
Doug Grimsley #58						7th		26-10	26tp-2	26-13
Jeff Newcombe #73			26-9	26-10	19-9	26-9	5th*			26-7
Robin Brown #91							26-tp-6	9th		26-2
Liz Fleming #118					26-11		26-17	26-1	6th	26-2
David Hajn #728										10th

Block B	CC	JS	JG	RL	AJ	JH	DB	CW	MM	DD
Chris Clarke #2	2nd	26tp-15		26tp-0	26-23	26-0	26tp-2	26-24	26tp-0	26tp-0
Jerry Stark #16		5th			26-10		26-3	26-3	26-15	26-3
John Gibbons =19	26otp-20	26tp-0	1st	26tp-0	25-23	26tp-6	26-25	26-11	26-8	26-1
Robert Lowe #40		26tp-4		3rd		26-19	26tp-9	26-21	15-13	23-10
Andrew Johnston #42				26-21	3rd	26tp-0	26-5	26-9	26tp-0	26tp-3
John Hardy #71		26tp-9				7th	21-15			26-10
Dennis Bulloch #92							8th	26-15		26-14
Chris Williams #93						26tp-17		8th		26-13
Margaret Melville #136						26-11	26-21	26-17	6th	26-0
Danny Davids #631										10th

Block C	RF	ID	BC	ME	SD	JP	SJ	SW	DD	AV
Robert Fulford #3	1st		26-0	26tp-0	26tp-0	26-14	26-9	26-10	26-9	26-6
Ian Dumergue #13	26tp-0	1st		26-9	26-1	15-12	26tp-11	26-19	26tp-9	26-2
Brian Cumming #20		26tp-0	5th*			26-18	26-17	26-17	26-16	26-0
Marcus Evans #39			26tp-1	4th*		26-9	26tp-9	26tp-14	26tp-0	19-17
Shane Davis #49			26-13	26-13	3rd*	26tp-0	26-20		26-11	26tp-0
John Prince #67						6th	26-16	26-7	23-22	26-2
Steve Jones #76							8th	26-13	26-10
Simon Watkins #101					26-24			7th	26-5	23-4
Duncan Dixon #225									9th	16-3
Anton Varnas =577							18-10			9th

Block D	DM	GB	SF	LM	SJ	KB	JW	PD	NM	BH
David Maugham #4	1st	26tp-0	26otp-16		26-19	26stp-19	26tp-9	26-17	26-2	26tp-1
Greg Bryant #15		3rd	26tp-9	26otp-13	22-21		26-1		26-0	26tp-0
Stephen Forster #21			8th			26-0			26-11	26tp-0
Leo McBride #27	26tp-2		26tp-9	1st	23-22	26tp-0	24-18	26-16	26-4	26-1
Stewart Jackson #48			26-7		6th		26-22		26-21	26-13
Kevin Beard #64		23-10			26-15	5th*	26-10		26tp-0	26-1
Jack Wicks #80			26-2				6th	26tp-21	26tp-1	26tp-3
Philip Drew #98		24-23	24-20		26tp-19	26-2		4th*		26-2
Nelson Morrow #149								26-14	9th	26-6
Bruno Hess #405										10th

Block E	RB	AW	SP	BJ	PB	RK	NB	TH	JG	KW
Rutger Beijderwellen #5	4th				26tp-0	26tp-5	26-7	26tp-6	26tp-0	26-1
Aaron Westerby #12	26tp-1	2nd	26tpo-14	26-13		25-4	26-4	26-4		26-0
Samir Patel #22	26-8		1st	23-21	26-11	26-22	26-14	26tp-0	26-10	26-4
Bob Jackson #32	26tp-0			2nd	26-2	26-18	26-9	26-6	26-8	26-1
Paul Bennett #50		26-1			5th	26-23	17-14		26-9	26-8
Rod Kirk #63						6th	17-13	26-10	26tp-0	26tp-1
Neil Bonnar #84							9th	26-22
Tony Hall #107					26tp-9			8th		26-11
Jerry Guest #142		26-8					26-7	26-15	6th	26-6
Kevin Wells #404							26-19			9th

Block F	KA	BF	PS	MW	CI	MP	AL	PP	JB	MY
Keith Aiton #6	1st		26tpo-18	26tpo-14	26tp-0	26-16	26-9		26-11	26-5
Bruce Fleming #11	26tp-16	3rd	26tp-0				26-4	26-24	23-20	26tp-0
Paul Skinley #23			1st	26-1	26-17	26tp-12	26-12	26-19	26-18	26-0
Michael Wright #36		26tp-10		3rd	26-13	26-0	26-9	26-11		26tp-0
Colin Irwin #46		26-18			5th		26-5	26-14	26-21	26-3
Mark Prater #59		26-17			26tp-0	6th			26-3	26tp-8
Ailsa Lines #90						26-21	6th	26-7	26-16	26-11
Peter Parkinson =94	26-15					26-21		8th		26-0
Jim Bast #173				26-23				26-12	8th	26-16
Masaaki Yamada =368										10th

Block G	SM	JD	IB	JC	RL	KB	TM	JV	RG	VC
Stephen Mulliner #7	3rd	26tp-18		26tpo-13			26tp-5	26tp-7	26tp-0	26-10
James Death #10		3rd	26tp-0		26-0		26-2	26tp-9	26tp-0	26-0
Ian Burridge #24	26otp-23		1st	26-23	26-11	26-0		26-16	26tp-1	26tp-17
Jenny Williams Clarke #25		26otp-21		1st	26-8	26-14	26-9	26-18	26-4	26-8
Ron Lloyd #51	26-10				8th			26-23		26-11
Ken Bald #72	26-10	26-12			26-12	5th			26-4	26-12
Tim Murphy #86			26-14		26tp-10	26-14	5th		26-22	26-10
John Versey =87						26-24	26-8	7th	26-1	26-3
Richard Griffiths #221					26-19				9th
Vincent Commarieu #363									24-20	9th

Block H	PL	PC	JH	CP	DO	TG	DB	TB	EN	JO
Peter Landrebe #8	2nd		26-4		26-13	26-24	26tp-1	26-4	26tp-0	26tp-2
Paddy Chapman #9	26tp-19	2nd		26tp-3		26tp-2	26tp-2	26-9	26tp-0	26tp-0
Joe Hogan =28		26tp-17	6th				26-9		26-1	26-13
Chris Patmore #31	26-1		26-15	6th					26-6	26tp-0
David Openshaw #47		26-0	26-9	26-0	1st	26-9	26-3	26-5	26-1	26-1
Toby Garrison #57			26-20	26-13		4th	26-2	26-10	26-9	26-4
David Bent #74				26-16			8th		26-18	26-11
Trevor Bassett #112			26tp-10	26-14			26-8	5th	26tp-0	26-5
Evan Newell #244									10th
Juan Ojeda #321									26-0	9th

Player Selection

The four finalist players in last year's World Championship automatically qualify to play this year. The remaining 76 players are selected to play in the World Championship by the member countries of the WCF under a quota system; plus fourteen wildcard players selected by the WCF; and plus the top four players from the World Championship Qualifying tournament held on 23-29 January in Nelson, New Zealand.

Finalists 4: Reg Bamford , Robert Fulford , James Death , and Jonathan Kirby .

England 12: Robin Brown, Chris Clarke, Marcus Evans, Colin Irwin, Ailsa Lines, Ian Lines, David Maugham, Stephen Mulliner, David Openshaw, Samir Patel, Chris Patmore, and Jack Wicks.

New Zealand 12: Greg Bryant, Paddy Chapman, Jenny Williams Clarke, Shane Davis, Toby Garrison, Robert Lowe, John Prince, AJ Reid, Paul Skinley, Aaron Westerby, Brian Wislang, and Michael Wright.

Australia 9: Ken Bald, Trevor Bassett, Kevin Beard, Ian Dumergue, Bruce Fleming, Stephen Forster, John Hardy, Rod Kirk, and Peter Landrebe.

United States 7: Jim Bast (TX), Paul Bennett (AZ), David Bent (FL), Doug Grimsley (VA), Stewart Jackson (FL), Ron Lloyd (NC), and Jerry Stark (CA).

Ireland 3: Andrew Johnston, and Evan Newell.

Canada 2: Brian Cumming, and Leo McBride.

Wales 2: Ian Burridge, and Chris Williams.

Czech Republic 1: David Hajn.

France 1: Vincent Commarieu.

Germany 1: Bruno Hess.

Isle of Man 1: Kevin Wells.

Japan 1: Masaaki Yamada.

Jersey 1: Richard Griffiths.

Scotland 1: Keith Aiton.

Spain 1: Juan Ojeda.

Sweden 1: Anton Varnas.

Switzerland 1: Danny Davids.

Wildcards 14: Rutger Beijderwellen , Neil Bonnar , Dennis Bulloch , Philip Drew , Liz Fleming , John Gibbons , Jerry Guest , Tony Hall , Joe Hogan , Bob Jackson , Steve Jones , Nelson Morrow , Tim Murphy , Jeff Newcombe , Mark Prater , and Simon Watkins .

Qualifiers 4: Duncan Dixon , Margaret Melville , Peter Parkinson , and John Versey .

See biographies of all the players.

13 February 2008
by Chris Williams

This World Championship was the eleventh since the event started in 1989. Robert Fulford is the only player to have played in all eleven. David Openshaw (1995), Chris Clarke (1997), Jerry Stark (2001) and Stephen Mulliner (2002) have all missed 1.

Chris Clarke at 36 is the second oldest winner after Reg Bamford who was 37 when he won for the second time in 2005. Reg Bamford is the only player to have been over 40 whilst World Champion.

The nearly 13 year gap between Clarke's first and second wins is also the longest gap between wins.

Three players have won the Championship more than once Fulford (5), Bamford(2) and Clarke (2). Joe Hogan and John Walters won once.

The WCF awards Gold medals to the winner, Silver to the runner up and Bronze to the losing semi finalists.

The all time medal table now reads:

Players with more than 1 medal are:

Australia have never won a medal at the World Championships. Six Australians have reached a quarter final, with only 2 in the last 6 Championships: 1992 Pickering and Northey, 1994 Kobelt and Taylor, 2001 Clarke, and 2005 Bald.